How Will Google Mobile Search Affect SEO in 2012?

Unlike traditional search engine queries which provide only one type of result, mobile search provides different results and ways of presenting those results by determining the type of device, such as normal phone, smartphone or tablet, that the request originated from.

Recently Google announced a new crawler specifically designed for smartphones, which would work separately from the crawler it uses for normal feature phones. A different crawler for smartphones is a good indication that different SEO practices may be effectively used for smartphone websites and apps.

The rational on mobile search has always been that Google treats mobile devices and tablets the same way it treats desktop computers, but with additional localized results. Now that Google has indicated that they will be using crawlers that specifically target certain devices, SEO experts can craft a mobile SEO plan which takes that into account.